This invention relates generally to an improved golf ball retriever, and specifically to a golf ball retriever utilizing a single vertical stroke to positively entrap the ball (thereby outmoding scooping devices).
As is known to one who golfs, an errant golf shot often results in the golf ball coming to rest in a generally unaccessible area such as a water hazard, lake or stream. Many devices have been shown in the prior art to retrieve such inaccessible golf balls. A major problem encountered is that often times, the ball is unstably balanced on submerged objects offering very little ball support such that a small movement of the ball will cause it to fall to other areas where it cannot be seen or reached. It is essential in such situations that the ball be positively entrapped on the first attempt at retrieval, or it may never be retrieved. Many of the prior art devices use an under ball scooping action to retrieve. This often results in the premature disturbance of the ball because of the dynamic forces generated against the ball by the movement of the scoop around the sides or bottom of the ball positioning the scoop. In some environments, it is difficult or impossible to get the scoop edge under the ball without moving the ball.
Other types of devices use rakes or small rings which require extreme agility in manuevering the device to recover the ball without prematurely moving the ball out of position.
The instant invention overcomes the problems of the prior art by providing an improved golf ball retriever requiring a single vertical actuating stroke for positive ball entrapment. The device employs a cylindrical housing having one or more properly sized ball entrapping gates or fingers disposed radially inwardly near the open bottom edge of the housing.
Each finger has a downlock position which prevents movement of the ball through the housing from top to bottom. Each finger is biased by a spring to allow upward movement from the downlock position to allow a ball to move upwardly (from the bottom of the housing) past the fingers. The initial spring bias is slight (not detrimental to ball movement). The biasing spring force increases to a maximum at the point of ball passage to snap the finger back to the downlock position.